Mission Modern: a lovers’ tale

During the depths of the Depression, a dowager California mission fell in love with a common-brick Chicago loft — he was so sturdy, so young, so brash. Despite the difficulties inherent in a long-distance romance between buildings, they managed to consummate their love; shortly thereafter, she gave birth to this homely concoction, whom they pressed into service with the Church so as to mask the indignity of a non-virgin birth. (Buildings in this era preferred to have immaculate origins, untainted by lineage.) Hint: the child predates large-scale Mexican immigration to Chicago.